


116 - Saving Van

by storiesaboutvan



Category: Catfish and the Bottlemen (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Reader-Insert, Sick/Sad Van
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 16:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17429255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesaboutvan/pseuds/storiesaboutvan
Summary: Filling the prompt: “a fic about looking after van (with the help of bondy) when he’s very drunk? maybe van is upset about something and goes out and gets drunk?? and y/n and bondy come to his aid?”





	116 - Saving Van

The knock on the door woke you. Then, the light from the hallway. You groaned and rolled over, hiding your face in the blankets. "Y/N?" Bondy's voice called through the broken darkness. "Sorry to wake you, love, but it's Van…" It was always fucking Van. You slowly rolled back over and sat up. "Uh… We lost him?" 

"What?" you asked sleepily. Throwing your legs over the side of the bed you looked around for pants. Your jeans were near the door, at Bondy's feet. He picked them up and threw them over.

"Yeah… We went to get a cab home and he was just gone?"

"How drunk was he?"

"Um. Pretty fuckin' wasted."

You'd had a few drinks with Van and Larry before they headed out to meet the guys in the city. After they'd filled their tummies with your really good potato bake, they bid you farewell and left. After, you had a bubble bath and revelled in the quiet and still house. Hours later, around midnight, you'd received a string of drunk texts from Van. You were used to that. They always started cute, but as the hours passed and the wine was consumed, they got progressively darker. It was part of Van people rarely saw.

You grabbed a hoodie and followed Bondy out of the bedroom. In the living room a guy you didn't recognise was passed out on your couch. Larry was sitting on the other one; Bob standing in front of him holding out a glass of water. "Drink it, mate," he said. Larry shook his head and Bob held it closer. "Drink. It."

"What the fuck happened?" you asked the room. 

"Usual craic," Bondy replied.

"Right. Has anyone tried to call him?"

Back in the bedroom you found your phone hidden in the folds of the quilt. There were more messages from Van, and a voicemail. His voice was slurred and sad, and it broke your heart. "Babe…I'mssssss ssssorreh if I wake ya… I jus'… Wanted ta hear the thing with ya voice…" There was a long pause; the sound of traffic in the background. "You're so good, babe. Sssssssssooooooo so so so so good. Too good for a fuckin' muppet like me… 'N what happens if I 'ave to keep tourin' 'n you don't wanna wait aroun' for me?" It was maybe the only thing Van was afraid of, really. That he'd fall in love with someone and that someone wouldn’t want to sit at home and just wait for the Catfish story to unfold before the McCann family one could start. "Wouldn't blame you for leavin'. 'M sorry, Y/N." Then, he hung up. You listened to the voicemail three times, listening to sounds in the background that might help locate him. He'd stopped picking up his phone.

Bondy appeared in the door. "Guess we just drive around looking for him?"

"Yeah. I'll drive. Who's that other guy out there?"

"Don't know. Larry made him come back with us," Bondy replied.

"Right. Well, Bob can stay and look after them both."

…

The first place to check was the bar; maybe Van had wandered back there. No luck. Then, the late night junk food places close by, but even they were winding down. The sun would come out in an hour or so. Wherever Van was, he was alone and would not be easily spotted from the car.

"What did his messages say?" Bondy asked after half an hour.

"The usual. That I'm too good for him, and that if I wanna leave and start a family with someone else, he'd understand. All that shit, you know,"

"Yeah. I know. So, maybe he's gone somewhere that reminds him of you?"

You stopped the car and did a u-turn. Bondy was right. How had you not thought to check there first?

It took only a couple of minutes to drive over to the inconspicuous alleyway. It was next to a club Catfish performed at years ago, before they made it. It was the alleyway where Van first told you that he was in love. You were sitting on upside-down milk crates thrown out by the bakery down the road. Sharing a cigarette, you poked his cheeks and laughed. You were in love with him too.

You pulled over and jumped out the car. In the darkness, you could make out Van's shape. He was sitting on the dirty concrete, back against the brick wall of the club. There was an unfinished glass of beer next to him that he'd clearly just walked out of a bar somewhere. He looked more sad than drunk. When you called his name his head rolled to face you. There was no visible emotional reaction.

You stood over him and gently sat over his legs. Your knees against the ground held most your weight, and you rested your hands on his shoulders. "Oh, darlin', what are you doing?" you asked him. He looked at you carefully and shrugged.

"Mate. Can't just run away like that, yeah? Freaked Larry out. Getting this one all upset," Bondy said to him. Van glanced up at him briefly but refocused on you. He lifted one hand and cupped your cheek. You held it there, spacing your fingers between his.

"Sorry," he whispered.

"Home now, then? Drink a cup of tea and get into bed with me?" you said. He shook his head no. 

"Nahhhhhhhhhh, babe. You guys go. I'm right,"

"What?" you replied straight away, hurt for him and for yourself.

"Van. Look, I know you think she's better off without you, but she's not. You're a good person, yeah? The best of us. And even if she was better off, that's her choice to make, not yours, mate. So, stop being such a fuckin' baby. We ain't leaving you in a piss-soaked alley. Get up and get in the car," Bondy said. Van looked up at him shocked but then amused. Van chuckled and nodded. He looked back at you.

"What he said," you added.

…

Bondy half carried him to the car, and back out of the car and to bed. You left Van for a moment, on the blankets staring vacantly at the ceiling. In the living room the stranger and Larry were asleep, and Bob was sitting at the round table in the corner of the room on Van's laptop. You went to him and kissed his forehead, telling him to take the bed in the spare room. He nodded and disappeared. Bondy followed you to the kitchen and watched you make tea. He jumped and sat on the kitchen bench. You didn't speak, both on the same page about Van. You made him tea, then walked him to Larry's bedroom. After all the lights in the house were off, and daylight was starting to take the place of the artificial glow, you went back to Van.

He sat up and drank some of the tea. You helped him pull off his boots and jeans. He laid back down and you unbuttoned his shirt for him, kissing along his chest as you went. Hoodie, shirt, and jeans pulled off, you let Van curl around you under the quilt. You patted his hair.

"Van?" He made a small sound in reply, only just awake still. "We can't go through this every time you drink too much, yeah?"

"I'm sorry,"

"No, you don't need to be sorry. It's not the wandering off, but that does also need to stop. It's the whole 'you're too good for me’ thing you do. We're gonna talk about that tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay… I love you,"

" I love you too, darlin'. Go to sleep now."

In the morning, in an hour or two, you'd sit him down and hold his hands and make him understand that you would never, ever leave. No matter what. But, that was for the daylight to bear witness to. You waited until his agitated breathing regulated into a sleepy calm before letting yourself fall asleep.


End file.
